Event Round-up…. Shelsley Walsh

Who would have predicted two years ago that a 2-litre class car would win a National Run Off, in the dry, at Shelsley Walsh?

The venue was in superb condition for the biggest event of the year.

Not very many people, if any. But at Shelsley in August Warwickshire Motorsport Engineer Jos Goodyear did exactly that with the 1400cc motorcycle engined GWR Raptor 2. And what’s more, he did it with a time just a couple of tenths or so away from Martin Grove’s long-held Outright Hill Record at The World Famous venue.

The little cars were the talk of the event with Goodyear and Alex Summers staging a mighty scrap for class honours in their pair of Mark Fisher Hayabusa powered cars. Summers finished runner-up to Scott Moran in the opening Run Off of the day, ahead of man-of-the-moment Will Hall and Goodyear. Goodyear then smashed the class record in Q2 before blitzing the best that Moran manage on the day to take his first Shelsley victory.

Outgunned by all the raw horsepower on display, 2012 champion Trevor Willis tried all he knew with the V8 powered OMS 28, but had to settle for a pair of fifth places as Hall closes in on his championship runner up spot.

Other goings-on in the Teme Valley saw a class celebrating the 80th Anniversary of English Racing Automobiles and four of the 6-cylinder Riley powered vehicles were on display including two former BHC winning chassis, R4D which won the title in 1947, 1948 & 1954 and R11B which took the top spot in 1952 & 1953. The class for these lovely old Voiturettes was won by former Shelsley pre-war record holder David Morris in R11B (known in the family as Humphry) although he was a little way off of the current record of 33.03s set just last month by James Baxter in ERA R4A.

The results at Shelsley meant that Scott Moran lead Trevor Willis by 14 points, with Will Hall a further 15 points adrift, as the season moves into the finishing straight. Just eight rounds remain and dropped scores are just around the corner….

Comments

Jos was seen through the kink trap at 138 Mph; was on 141 Mph at earlier National Meeting. Wonder what his data shows as his speed through The Crossing. Yes, I know that it’s called the S approach, but cars have been accelerating after that trap-point since Martin Grove’s day; he was once said to have reached 153 Mph after trap, and before braking. Thanks again, Mr. Editor. Always a good read, even for someone who was there, but not always in precisely the right place at any given time.